The reigning Vodacom Durban July champion Legislate moved well in light work at Summerveld yesterday, but will probably need his Gr 2 Drill Hall Stakes outing, a race that his equally illustrious stablemate Futura will be avoiding.

Legislate put in some light work on the sand under Sean Cormack, who reported him to be “moving well.” He put in a good gallop on Monday, but was “blowing a bit” afterwards and this prompted trainer Justin Snaith to say, “I take it that he will need his first run and he is drawn in the bush anyway (9 out of 12 runners).”

Stable jockey Richard Fourie retains the ride and if Legislate is anywhere near his best he should fight out the Drill Hall with the only other Gr 1-winner involved, King Of Pain, who is also drawn wide in 10.

Snaith has decided to avoid the Drill Hall Stakes with the J&B Met and L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate winner Futura, having been thrilled with his recent Greyville grass gallop, and race fans will have to wait until the Gr 1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge at Greyville on June 6 before seeing him clash with Legislate for the first time this Champions Season. Snaith has already noticed that the thoroughly professional Futura is a dream to train and one of his positive characteristics is that he “saves himself” and doesn’t extend to the maximum in his workouts. The Dynasty colt put in some fluent work on his own on the top sand track at Summerveld yesterday under Cormack.

Snaith said that his two KRA Guineas contestants Heartland and Ultimate Dollar had both come on since their first KZN outings. They both crossed the line first in their respective Champions Season pipe openers, but Ultimate Dollar was demoted after an objection by the connections of St. Tropez.

Snaith said, “Heartland has gears and is the closest thing to the two big horses (Legislate and Futura) that we have. He is a serious horse.”

Ultimate Dollar has an impressive stride but appears to take a while to wind up. Snaith felt that the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 would give him a better chance of classic victory than the Guineas. However, Ultimate Dollar has drawn in five on Saturday compared to Heartland’s 14.

Snaith said that generally all of his Champions Season string had not had gallops in Cape Town before travelling to Durban so would likely need their first outings in KZN. He said that all seven of his runners from Scottsville on Sunday had pulled up well, including Dynamic, whom he felt was unlucky to have been beaten into second in the Listed Sledgehammer over 1750m by fellow July entry, the Dean Kannemeyer-trained Solar Star, as he had received a bump at a crucial stage.

Snaith said that he would be aiming a lot of his other July entries, including the like of Jet Explorer, at the Betting World 1900 on May 15.

Snaith made special mention of his promising New Zealand-bred colt French Revolution, an eyecatching grey whose lightly coloured mane would make him an instant housewive’s favourite. He said, “He has really come well and is thriving. The idea for him is the Gold Cup, but we want to try and do as little as we can before then as you need a sound horse for that race.”

by David Thiselton

The speedy Glen Kotzen-trained Visionaire filly Royal Pleasure could well earn the nickname “the dream filly” as this mere R30,000 purchase remained unbeaten when winning the Gr 3 Strelitzia Stakes over 1100m at Scottsville yesterday and she now has the Gr 1 Allan Robertson over 1200m at the same course on May 23 firmly in her sights.

At that same meeting on May 23 Dennis Drier could land his fourth Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Gold Medallion in succession and his fifth in the space of six years as his Seventh Rock colt Seventh Plain showed his class with an impressive win in the Gr 3 Godolphin Barb Stakes over 1100m.

The Brett Crawford-trained Gulf Storm and the Mike de Kock-trained Moofeed put their hands up as contenders for the Gr 1 Golden Horse Casino Sprint with eyecatching performances in a competitive Listed In Full Flight Handicap over 1100m.

The Kotzen-trained Jet Belle later showed how effective she is over sprints when destroying the field in the weight for age Gr 3 Poinsettia Stakes over 1200m and if ever there was a horse that deserved to win a Champions Season Gr 1 it is her as she has had her fair share of bad luck in her career.

Royal Pleasure has provided a dream for the youthful 3A Racing syndicate, who have done a lot to promote horseracing in KZN to the younger generation. The closely knit group of friends took a small share in bargain buy Royal Pleasure after she had been knocked down at the Suncoast KZN Yearling Sale and could hardly have dreamed that the first horse they owned, as opposed to leased, could have turned out so good. The majority share in the horse was repurchased by her breeder Barry Irwin’s Team Valor International from bloodstock agent Andy Williams after her first start, so Royal Pleasure now runs for the passionate 3A clan in a set of famous colours. Yesterday, carrying joint topweight in just her third career start, she showed her usual pace under Anton Marcus and held off the Paul Peter-trained maiden Miracle Rising, to whom she gave 4kg. The runner up was a touch unlucky having lost a length or two at the start and the jockey then lost his crop five strides from home, so she is another to follow. Visionaire, who was brought to South Africa by Irwin, has made waves with his first crop and it showed at the recent National Yearling Sales as his progeny averaged close to R300,000 and he was the ninth best sire on aggregate.

Seventh Plain is full of class and will not only be limited to sprinting. The big horse came from a high draw, but Marcus could afford to sit off the pace on the Klawervlei Stud-bred colt before sauntering through in impressive style to beat three well regarded sorts, the Alistair Gordon-trained Beat The Retreat, the Alyson Wright-trained Mr Roy and the Charles Laird-trained Red Hot Poker, by 1,5 lengths, 3,5 lengths and 5,75 lengths respectively.

Jet Belle later streaked away from the Poinsettia field under Greg Cheyne to beat the Justin Snaith-trained Varikate by four lengths with the Paul Lafferty-trained Goldie Coast next best. The five-year-old Jet Master mare could possibly take in the Gr 1 SA Fillies Sprint over 1200m on May 23, although Alboran Sea and Carry On Alice will both be hard to beat there, so the Gr 1 Jonsson Workwear Garden Province Stakes will likely be her main target.

Brett Crawford got his Champions Season off to a good start by winning the Listed In Full Flight Stakes over 1100m with Gulf Storm. This tough four-year-old gelding by Sail From Seattle always looked likely to be suited to the tough Scottsville sprint track. After getting good cover early behind a strong pace he was switched out by Corne Orffer and soon had the measure of the horses on his inside. Moofeed, a Gr 3 winner to whom Gulf Storm gave 2kg, then loomed up on the outside and put his head in front. However, a measure of Gulf Storm’s toughness is that he fought back and got up to win by a head. The first two shouldn’t be punished two severely by the handicapper as the third horse Al Ciberano, a consistent sort who finished 3,6 lengths back, was 1kg under sufferance.

The Listed Scarlet Lady over 1750m turned into a thriller but it was the Charles Laird-trained Captain Al filly who proved her liking for the course, finding extra late under Anton Marcus to beat Euphoria by a length with all of San Trip, Ash Cloud and Gathering Flame close up.

In the Listed Sledgehammer over 1750m Dean Kannemeyer’s good run continued and his Kahal gelding Solar Star took one step closer to a place in the Vodacom Durban July field by producing an impressive late burst under Stuart Randolph to win going away by 0,5 lengths from the resolute Justin Snaith-trained Dynamic.

– By David Thiselton

With six graded and listed races on the card, the nail-biting battle to the line between favourite Moofeed and the lesser-fancied Gulf Storm set the ball rolling on a high note in the Listed In Full Flight Handicap over 1 100m where the Sail From Seattle gelding Gulf Storm prevailed by a narrow margin.

Jockey Corne Orffer showed he was more than capable of mixing it with the top riders in the country when he got the better of Anthony Delpech in the final strides to give trainer Brett Crawford his first local feature winner of the season.

Two very exciting juveniles gave notice of much better things to come in the two Grade 3 races for two-year-olds, the Strelitzia Stakes and the Godolphin Barb Stakes, and both are likely to be short-priced for their big Grade 1 races at Scottsville next month. Both were ridden by Anton Marcus.

Trained by Glen Kotzen, the Visionaire filly Royal Pleasure retained her unbeaten record with a fluid win in the Strelitzia and Seventh Plain, a colt by Seventh Rock from the Dennis Drier stable, put his hand up as a potential winner of the Grade 1 Tsogo Sun Medallion on May 23. A performance of note in this race was that of the Argonaut colt Beat The Retreat from the Alistair Gordon stable that came on strongly in the closing stages of the 1 100m event and could be dangerous over the 1 200m of the big race next month.

In the Grade 3 Poinsettia Stakes over 1 200m, the Kotzen-trained Jet Belle showed her class when she won comfortably from the Justin Snaith stable inmate Varikate. Having her first race since January, the Jet Master mare shifted about a little in the closing stages but Greg Cheyne steadied her and she won comfortably.

The Listed Scarlet Lady saw Anton Marcus back in the winner’s enclosure with the Charles Laird-trained Captain Al filly Captain’s Daughter. Marcus had raced her up handy as San Trip set the gallop and moved her to the outside for her run as Euphoria tackled San Trip and looked a potential winner. However, Marcus was at his best and drove Captain’s Daughter up the outside rail to win by a length.

Trainer Dean Kannemeyer can hardly put a foot wrong since bringing his team to Durban and his four-year-old Kahal gelding Solar Star put up a gutsy and impressive performance to beat the opposition under a good ride from Stuart Randolph to close off the meeting in The Sledgehammer over 1 750m.

Joey Ramsden said: “We worked him with Brutal Force at Kenilworth last Wednesday and he went really well.”

Ramsden, who also won the Winter Guineas 11 years ago with another of his stable stars, Winter Solstice, will wait to see how Act Of War is drawn in the Rising Sun Gold Challenge (June 6) before deciding on future plans. The Cape Guineas winner was drawn 23 out of 23 at the entry stage for Sunday’s race but quite a number are expected to drop by the wayside at this morning’s declarations and Ramsden is confident that his star will cope with the outside pen.

Last season’s Mercury Sprint winner Fly By Night will take her chance in the City of Pietermaritzburg Fillies Sprint at Scottsville on May 23 despite disappointing in last Saturday’s Computaform Sprint in which she finished last.

Mike Bass said: “She is fine. The course vet said she was not striding out on her right front but I could find nothing wrong unless it was the tiny saddle that Bernard was using, and even then maybe it was just that I was trying to find something.”

Stable companion Tevez (seventh) goes to Durban although not exactly on his trainer’s wishes. “I can’t get him home without him having to stay somewhere for two weeks in the mountains because of African Horse Sickness regulations. He tends to bleed in Durban but I might run him towards the end of the season.”

The benefits of Mike Stewart’s beachside operation were given a proof-positive by Chris Snaith after Trackmaster returned after nearly three months away to secure a battling win under Richard Fourie in yesterday’s Silicone & Technical Maiden. Snaith said: “He was suffering from sore shins and we were tearing our hair out. In the end we gave him a blister and sent him to Mike.” Stewart said: “When I thought he was ready I rode him myself on the pan, the stretch of my hardest sand, and he went really well. I said to the Snaiths: ‘This is going to be a top horse and he won’t get beaten next time he runs.’”

Andrew Fortune is now riding work for Darryl Hodgson most days of the week and the former champion is being rewarded with more and more of the stable’s rides. He scored a narrow win on Natatela in the Multifix Maiden despite the filly drifting right across the course and owner Hassen Adams ruefully remarked: “I thought he was a bit of a Jonah in my colours as he hadn’t had a winner for me for a long time!”

> Anthony Delpech, 14-1 for the title a fortnight ago, is now 16-10 joint favourite with Gavin Lerena, having reduced the leeway to four. Lerena is on 130 winners and S’Manga Khumalo (129) is a 5-2 chance.